Tsing Tao Mandarin Chinese — Restaurant in New Trier Township

Tsing Tao Mandarin Chinese Restaurant is the most aggressively mediocre Chinese dining establishment that I have ever patronized.

One thing I've struggled with for the last two years is finding a good Chinese restaurant in the Evanston area. Everything has been lousy, made me sick, or been some sort of weird Thai-Chinese fusion that doesn't seem to do either cuisine well. So when I saw Tsing Tao and what seemed like overall solid reviews, I was cautiously optimistic, even moreso when receiving my practically 50 pound delicious smelling back of takeout.

Boy, was I disappointed.

Previous reviews mentioned food being bland and holy moly, they were absolutely right. What are people eating up here? It's like there was no seasoning of any kind. I don't know if it is a no MSG thing (by the way, MSG causing headaches is a myth), if they ran out of spices, or what, but nothing tasted like anything.

Fried rice: Weirdly "pale" and bland. Sweet and sour chicken: Chicken was fine, sauce was this strange watered down pink slurry that was unlike any other sweet and sour sauce I've ever had. I understand the hot pink sauce is obviously not authentic Chinese food and is instead most likely some corn syrup filled with red dye #5 to appeal to my uncivilized American palate, but that's also what I expect to receive. Chicken lo mein: Flavorless and colorless sadness in a takeout box. Pot stickers: Tasty enough! Egg rolls: Tasty, but cold.

The girlfriend and I didn't even save our $46 worth of leftovers for gnoshing on the next day, which I always am wont to do with Chinese food.

On to...

This is a casual neighborhood restaurant where the owners chat and are quite jovial with regulars. In general, the food was delicious and above average, with a few exceptions. The pot stickers, hot and sour soup, and shrimp toast were all good. None of us could detect even the slightest crab taste in the Rangoon, which I guess isn't surprising since it was imitation crab in cream cheese. The egg roll was nothing to write home about.

As for the main dishes - the Sizzling Rice Shrimp featured enormous shrimp, as did the Tsing Tao Combo fried rice. The sauce in the first dish was a bit too garlicky, although it was quite tasty. The standouts were the Orange Chicken and Twin Mushroom Beef. It was a little surprising that the Orange Chicken didn't include broccoli, but it was so crispy and delectable, we didn't really care. The beef was tender and excellent, although once again, a bit too heavy on the garlic.

The parking lot was woefully inadequate for a Saturday night and there weren't any close street spots. My brother-in-law reported that the downstairs bathroom was dirty and gross, and what if an elderly person needed to use the facility - impossible! The service was slow, but they seemed understaffed. Last ... the fortune cookies were inedible cardboard, but they give you almond cookies, as well. Despite these minor complaints, it was a pleasant experience and we have plenty...

I tried ordering on Sunday night around 6:45 PM for pick up which was still early since they close at 8 PM. When I tried calling no one answered and got a recorded message about the number not being available to try later. Kept on calling every so often no luck, then proceeded to order online, and as soon as I picked an item got a pop up window stating that pick up service was not available to try later. Called back again and their line transferred into a fax line, what gives?? Being that I didn't have any luck via phone or online, proceeded to go into the restaurant just to totally be ignored by their wait staff. So I asked the girl at the front desk that I was waiting for some one to seat me and she right away looked at the clock (it was 7PM) and then with an attitude tells me "to just stand there and someone will get you" like I waited for 5 minutes and after seeing their wait passed by me without even eye contact but rather, totally being ignored I simply left because considering that they had customers they could have still accommodated me or tell me that they're no longer taking orders but not ignore a long time customer that has been coming for years is down right unprofessional! Do NOT go there if they're somewhat busy because you'll get ignored especially an hour early...